Hank Estep is a big man. As president of the 64th annual N.C. Azalea Festival, he’s also got a big job: making sure Wilmington’s largest annual party goes off without a hitch (or with as few hitches as possible).

The timing for the clean-tech endeavor was perfect: Businesses wanted to cut utility costs, especially during a bad economic time, and Progress Energy was (and still is) offering incentives to reduce electric consumption.